Top story: ‘We will begin our quarantine and recovery process together’

Good morning and welcome to this Friday briefing with me, Alison Rourke.

Donald Trump and his wife, Melania, have tested positive for Covid-19. The president announced it on Twitter just before 6am UK time. “Tonight, @FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19. We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. We will get through this TOGETHER!”, he wrote. Earlier, the president’s close aide, Hope Hicks, tested positive to coronavirus. Hicks, who serves as counsellor to the president, accompanied Trump to the presidential debate on Tuesday and to a Minnesota rally on Wednesday, and tested positive on Thursday. Trump said he spends “a lot of time with Hope”. The development comes almost exactly a month from polling day and after Trump’s re-election team rejected calls to change the rules of the next two presidential debates with Joe Biden. Also overnight, the president moved a planned rally in western Wisconsin amid calls from a city mayor and the state’s governor urging him not to go ahead due to a surge in coronavirus cases.

Margaret Ferrier – The SNP MP has been suspended from her party and is facing multiple calls to resign after taking a train from London to Scotland knowing that she had tested positive for Covid-19. Ferrier, the MP for Rutherglen and Hamilton West, apologised unreservedly for major breaches of Covid regulations. On Saturday she began suffering symptoms of the virus and took a test. Despite this, she travelled 400 miles to London by train on Monday – a journey of five hours and 40 minutes – to attend parliament, where she made a brief speech in the evening during a debate on coronavirus. That night she was also told she had tested positive for the virus, but it’s unclear if this was before or after she attended parliament. The following morning, Tuesday, she travelled by train to Scotland without seeking advice but knowing she had the virus.

In other coronavirus developments, it’s been revealed that the Home Office moved dozens of asylum seekers from a Covid outbreak in Birmingham to the London borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, despite an enforcement order that said they should remain in self-isolation for 14 days. Nine of the 40 who were moved tested positive to Covid. Steve Cowan, the leader of Hammersmith and Fulham council, condemned the Home Office’s actions: “It is shocking that the Home Office is knowingly and incompetently moving people around the country in a way that risks allowing the virus to spread.” Coronavirus cases have doubled in the majority of English cities and towns that are subject to long-term local lockdowns, Guardian analysis has found, amid growing concern that restrictions are confusing and done “on the cheap”. In 11 out of 16 English cities and towns where restrictions were imposed nine weeks ago, the infection rate has at least doubled, with cases in five areas of Greater Manchester rising faster than the England average in that time. Strictly Come Dancing contestant HRVY has tested positive for coronavirus, just over two weeks before the launch of the new series. And Elton John’s spokesperson has said the singer is “fully supportive of wearing a mask in public” after he was accused of flouting face mask rules during a visit to the Italian island of Capri this week. You can stay up to date on all the global coronavirus developments on our live blog.

One-stop testing – People awaiting a CT or MRI scan will be able to have one on the high street under NHS plans to improve access to diagnostic tests. NHS England plans to set up a network of new “one-stop shops” where patients will be able to have scans closer to home rather than having to go hospital. They are intended to reduce the risk of patients getting Covid-19 in hospital and speed up the time it takes to undergo diagnostic testing by having more capacity.

E-scooters – MPs have called on the government to legalise e-scooters in the UK and advertise them to car drivers as a greener alternative for short journeys. The cross-party Commons transport select committee said the scooters, which are only legal to use in limited regional trials, should be allowed on British roads. They also called for robust enforcement to stop people using them on pavements, which they said was dangerous and antisocial, and an impediment to pedestrians and people with disabilities.

Ash dieback – The National Trust is facing its worst year on record for felling trees owing to ash dieback, in part due to one of the warmest and driest springs on record. Increased prolonged hot and dry conditions driven by the climate crisis were putting trees under stress and making them more susceptible to disease, dramatically speeding up the impact of ash dieback, the trust said. While the National Trust has felled about 4,000-5,000 trees a year in recent years, largely because of ash dieback, this year it faces having to cut down around 40,000 trees, with a bill of £2m.

Whales safe – Rescuers have shepherded a pod of three northern bottlenose whales out of Loch Long ahead of major Nato exercises. The British Divers Marine Life Rescue group said a first group of boats had been “gently moving” the whales towards the mouth of the River Clyde. Loch Long is near the Faslane naval base, home to the nuclear-powered submarine fleet. Thousands of armed forces personnel are due to take part in the Joint Warrior military exercises in the area from next week.

Today in Focus podcast: Florida 2020: an ugly election fight in a critical swing state

Oliver Laughland, the Guardian’s US southern bureau chief, discusses his recent road trip around Florida, a key state that Trump only narrowly won in 2016. He found two sides that were bitterly opposed.

Lunchtime read: Rashida Jones: ‘I didn’t know if I was coming or going’

In On the Rocks, a new movie by Sofia Coppola starring Rashida Jones (Parks and Recreation, The [US] Office) and Bill Murray, the city of New York appears in what was until recently its customary guise. The bars and restaurants are full, the streets are crowded, and in every scene New Yorkers breathe on one another with outlandish abandon. “It’s a weird time to celebrate anything,” says Jones, but there is something about the movie, in which she plays a thirty-something woman whose life is in free-fall, that feels like a tribute to a vanished world. “I had a child and lost my mom in the same period [as filming], and was in very amorphous emotional shape,” she says. That sense of limbo imbues every frame, writes Emma Brockes, whose interview with Jones talks about grief, resilience – and challenging what Jones calls Pixar’s “top-heavy patriarchy, or top-heavy whiteness”.

Sport

Mikel Arteta is developing a reputation as a cup specialist, but he admitted the thrill of beating Liverpool 5-4 on penalties was curtailed when the news came through of their quarter-final Carabao Cup draw against Manchester City. Manchester United face a challenging Champions League group stage after being placed alongside Paris Saint-Germain, RB Leipzig, and Istanbul Basaksehir in Thursday’s draw. In the Europa League, Harry Kane scored the first of a hat-trick after 92 seconds as Tottenham ran out 7-2 winners against Maccabi Haifa to reach the group stage. Sam Mewis hit the winner for Manchester City to beat Arsenal 2-1 and reach the Women’s FA Cup final, despite Jordan Nobbs equalising Steph Houghton’s opener. Police in Australia and the NRL’s integrity unit are investigating “very serious” allegations against the former England player Sam Burgess and his club South Sydney Rabbitohs. Racing 92’s preparations for European Champions Cup final against Exeter on 17 October have been thrown into turmoil following reports in France that as many as nine club employees have returned positive coronavirus tests. Jelena Ostapenko secured only her second win at Roland Garros since claiming the title in 2017, dominating No 2 seed Karolina Pliskova 6-4, 6-2 to reach the third round. And Sky Sports has announced an attempt to clamp down on online abuse after a “surge” in hateful messages during lockdown.

Business

The government’s £500m subsidy for restaurant and pub meals failed to improve the finances of the UK’s hospitality and catering industries in the third quarter, according to a business survey. The British Chambers of Commerce said 66% of respondents to its quarterly economic survey in hospitality and catering reported a fall in sales and bookings between June and the end of September. Almost a third of companies in the survey expected their turnover to fall over the next year.

The pound is buying €1.097 and $1.286.

The papers

The Trump coronavirus developments came too late for all the papers. Instead, the SNP MP Margaret Ferrier features on many of the front pages. The Guardian says “MP under fire for train trip while she had Covid”. The Scotsman has: “‘Reckless’ MP put public at risk on Covid train journey”. The Telegraph says “MP took Covid to the Commons”. The i splashes with “MP with Covid-19 broke rules five times”. The Mail exclaims: “One rule for them!”, comparing Ferrier’s journey to a quarter of the UK being in local lockdown. The Scottish Daily Mail goes further, with: “SNP MP’s Covid trip of shame”. The Express focuses on a virus “exclusive” with the chancellor: “Rishi: I won’t forget hidden victims of virus”. The Mirror’s front page is on George Floyd, and an interview with his sister: “Don’t let my brother George die in vain”. The FT splashes on: “Top advisers slashed exposure to Rolls-Royce before £2bn rights issue”.

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